Younger Justice
by owllover22161
Summary: The Light, have developed a ray that makes anyone who steps into it 10 years younger. Originally, it was meant to revitalise the near-middle-aged members of the Light to make them young and strong again, but then they had the idea that since the team is made up of teenagers, it would set back the heroes greatly if their sidekicks were hit and made infants and children. (Original 6)
1. Prologue

Prologue

"Incredible... truly incredible," Lex Luthor breathed. This stroke of brilliance could make them immortal, well... those who weren't already immortal. Looking around the obsidian, oblong table of the nine prime members, Luthor noticed that four out of the nine were already immortal. Vandal Savage had absorbed radiation from a meteorite thousands of years ago, Klarion was an immortal lord of chaos, Wotan the Sorcerer had made himself practically immortal using magic and Brain was not truly alive in the first place, so technically could not die. The other five members, himself included, who could be touched by time, were looking at the beam of light, created by the ray gun greedily. Contact once with the beam of light would make the person 10 years younger. This could put them back at their prime, ready to go toe-to-toe with those _idiots_ in the Justice League.

The committee schooled their features into polite indifference when Vandal Savage cleared his throat, he looked at each member before speaking, holding back a smug look when he saw the intrigue of the mortal members, "This is revolutionary technology, obviously it has immense potential, for us and our allies... we will become eternal... we will become gods," he stated triumphantly. He continued, "However, it has potential that not even its own creators may have imagined," he gave knowing looks toward Luthor and the Brain as he said this and their obvious confusion was quite humorous, "This can be used, not only as a way to sustain ourselves, but as a way to bring down our enemies...through their reliance on their own allies..." Mass confusion swamped the table until Luthor and Brain said together "Oh! Ten years, of course!"

"Yes, my friends, we target the younglings, and make the so called 'Justice League' regret the day they ever chose apprentices..."


	2. Chapter 1

Robin couldn't believe this had happened, his entire team had been captured and it was all his fault. This was just supposed to be a simple recon mission to find out who the buyers for the Cobra Venom were, but of course a massive fight had followed, leaving the rest of his team tied up and unconscious.

He should have spotted all of extra gunmen hidden in the rafters, because not knowing whether or not he had been captured, as he was always hiding in the rafters himself, the team had surrendered. Of course, Robin was fine, but the team didn't know that. Cobra told them that Robin was already unconscious and any refusals to cooperate, would result in his death, so they didn't struggle as they were injected with a serum to knock them out, and then were tied up.

From his position behind boxes and crates, Robin started rummaging through his utility belt, for an antidote to sleep serum. Once he found it, he looked up to check on his team. Then he noticed a massive helicopter coming down in the courtyard outside, out of the helicopter stepped none other than Vandal Savage himself. He seemed to be holding a massive briefcase, but what was in it, Robin didn't know. In any case, the arrival of Vandal Savage was cause alone to call Batman. Robin tapped his earpiece, but received only static, "Comms have been blocked," Robin muttered to himself, it looked like he was going to have to save the team on his own.


	3. Chapter 2

Still holding the antidote, Robin inched forward, trying to hear what Savage was saying to Cobra about the mysterious briefcase, " _Honestly,_ " Robin thought, " _couldn't villains be a little more creative? A locked briefcase? Please! Raise your game guys!_ " He drew closer still, not making a sound, and was able to pick up snatches of their conversation:

"Truly...10 years...most incredible...why them?" he heard Cobra ask.

"...make the Justice League regret...into children...helpless," Savage responded. They were gradually approaching his hiding place as they talked. Robin had heard infuriatingly little but it did not take a genius, though he was one, to deduce that they were going to do something to his team... something to do with... children? He refocused on their conversation in time to hear,

"There is one small problem, Robin remains illusive to us."

"Oh...I wouldn't worry, after all he is just behind those crates, aren't you Robin?"

Robin jumped up in an attempt to escape but was surrounded in seconds. Normally in this situation he would launch into battle or signal Batman, but the goons that Vandal had brought with him had their guns pointing at his unconscious friends. For 10 full seconds there was a silent stand-off but, slowly, reluctantly Robin raised his hands. The antidote for the serum was taken, along with his utility belt. He was thrown over someone's shoulder and taken to where his friends remained unconscious, right in front of Savage. Leering down at him, Savage asked, "How old are you, boy?" When no response came he continued, "Not feeling very talkative, are we? Tie him up!" He commanded the goons and as they approached holding the rope, one of them handed Savage his antidote and utility belt. He chuckled darkly when he read the label on the antidote.

"Administer this to the others," he said gesturing with the antidote, generally confusing everyone, not least of all Robin, who was now bound up so tightly that he could not even raise his head. When everyone hesitated following his order he added, "We wouldn't want them to miss their teammate's... _changing_." Cobra and Savage smirked at this and some of the goons laughed.


	4. Chapter 3

_"We wouldn't want them to miss their teammate's... changing." Cobra and Savage smirked at this and some of the goons laughed._

Robin was now beyond confused, but he knew he had to focus to get his friends out of here. While Robin contemplated escape plans, the goons had roughly administered his antidote to his friends, but not before making sure their bonds were tight and adding a little Kryptonite to Superboy's. Wally groaned as he reached consciousness, they others were a little more graceful, but when they noticed Robin trussed up in enough rope to carpet the warehouse, their eyes widened to plates. As soon as she was able, M'Gann created a mind link and Robin found his head swamped with questions:

 _"ROBIN!? Are you ok?"_ Megan mentally yelled.

 _"They said they caught you, dude. You ok?"_ Wally asked.

 _"Truly, Robin, are you alright?"_ Aqua-Lad asked urgently.

 _"How come you're tied up with that much rope? I can barely see you!_ " Artemis exclaimed.

 _"I have to agree with Artemis, Robin, why are you tied up so much more thoroughly than us?"_ Kaldur asked.

Eventually, the team realised that yelling at him over the top of each other probably was not helping, so they waited a moment and let Robin respond, _" To the 3 of you that asked, I am fine,"_ Robin heard a collective sigh of relief over the mind link, and continued, _"The rope is because I have run into Cobra before, he knows that if I was tied down with the amount of rope you guys are, I'd be out of there in seconds... Even this won't hold me for ever, an hour give or take? Rule 1 for capturing Robin: **Never** , leave me conscious. Even in an impossible situation I can do something if I'm conscious, but if I'm not...not so much."_ There was a shocked silence in the mind link for a few seconds, before they were interrupted by Savage opening the briefcase and Cobra asking, "What about the Superboy? He is less than a year old, will he cease to exist?"

"No, his body is that of a sixteen year old, and this ray does not effect the mind...Ingenious, isn't it?" Savage said smirking, "Shall we begin? I would prefer to have them helpless as soon as possible..." Cobra nodded and jerked his chin at Robin, causing the thugs to grab him and carry him like a sack of potatoes over to where the villains stood. Robin was roughly dropped to the ground, and landed with a grunt. The team were protesting and trying to escape to help when Savage pointed the ray-gun at Robin and fired it. Robin could only lie helplessly as the world filled with bright light and then that faded away into darkness. The first thing he noticed was that that team were screaming their heads off, except for Superboy, who was still out of it, due to the Kryptonite. The second thing he noticed was that the once tight cocoon of ropes that he was trapped in was lying limp around him, with him in the centre. He wiggled forward until he managed to escape the pile of rope. As he emerged there was suddenly collective silence in the warehouse, before he felt himself being lifted off the ground by the scruff of his neck, "Going somewhere child?" Savage leered at him. Subconsciously, Robin wondered why the floor was so far away but he yelled back, "Put me down!" only to immediately stop when he heard how high-pitched his voice sounded. What was going on?

He kept glaring at Savage as he yelled through the mind link, _"Guys! What happened? Why am I so short? Why does my voice sound like this?!"_ After a long awkward pause, Kaldur responded, _"Robin, is that you? You have been turned into a child! Here look at this,"_ He showed his perspective of what was happening through the mind link. What looked to be an ebony-haired toddler in a tiny Robin costume, was being held more that a metre off the ground by the back of his uniform. The team were interrupted by Vandal Savage sneering and stating, "I see you are confused, allow me to explain, this ingenious machine makes whomsoever comes in contact with its ray 10 years younger, quite dangerous for teenagers to be around don't you think?" He paused to let out an evil laugh, then continued, "Ah well, let us not take all night, who's next?" He was about to fire the gun at the team when mini-Robin did a flip, kicking at Savages hands, forcing him to release Robin. Robin dropped to the ground and flipped on impact, absorbing the fall. The team just looked at him shocked until Megan asked, _"How did you do that, you're a toddler?!"_ Robin just gave an adorable giggle and said, _"I was born in a circus Megan, I could flip literally as soon as I could walk."_

Unfortunately, Mini-Robin was stopped when Cobra crept up behind him and injected him with something from behind. He wasn't sure what it was until all of his muscles suddenly gave out and he collapsed, he wasn't unconscious but his limbs weren't responding. For the second time in the space of five minutes, Robin had the thought, " _What is going on?_ " But this time he accidentally projected it into the mind link, and a chorus of " _Robin!"_ followed. _"I can't move..."_ he told them, but was unable to continue when one of Cobra's thugs roughly picked him up and toted him back over towards the Villains who had a little electrified cage waiting, into which he was roughly shoved. They locked it and went back to their place next to Cobra, who then told Robin that the serum would keep him incapacitated for the next several hours, so he was forced to helplessly watch as, one by one, his team were turned into children, Wally and Artemis were now 5, M'Gann and Superboy were now 6 and Kaldur was 7. Robin realised that Wally wouldn't have his powers anymore, as he had recreated the explosion that had given the Flash his speed at age 11, Artemis had started training at the age of 13 and the school of magic Kaldur had attended only accepted 10 year olds and older. In his frustration he forgot to keep up his usual mental barriers so the team heard the whole thing, suddenly becoming very worried. _How could they possibly get out of this?_


	5. Chapter 4

_How could they possibly get out of this?_

The team were on the verge of panic at their current situation, most of them powerless, virtually helpless, and with their mentors totally unaware of their _predicament_... everyone that was, except Robin. This confused the team to no end, he was a toddler, paralysed and powerless... but then again, he'd never needed powers before...

While the others had been panicking after Robin accidentally revealed his mental calculations about their chances in a fight, the team had gone from being worried to being mildly hysterical. Conner was both mentally and physically growling from being near the Kryptonite for so long, but in his 6 year old form it was much less intimidating than usual, Kaldur was attempting to get his emotions in check but was stressing over the fate of his team, Wally was panicking over not having his powers, Artemis was feeling helpless, tiny and vulnerable, but was trying not to show it and Megan was in a state of shock, using all of her will power to not revert to her true Martian form, as at 6, her transformations were still sloppy at the best of times. Robin, however, had been blocking all of this out while he formulated a plan, he finally let his outermost mental barrier down and projected his thoughts to the team.

At first, they were shocked at how calm and focused he was, he was physically incapacitated, in a far worse shape than any of them, but he was the most calm. _How?!_ Before they could bombard him with questions, he began explaining,

 _"Right, first things first, Super Boy, Miss M, you're the only one's who had your powers at your current age, so you guys are how we are getting out of here,"_ He stated firmly, leaving no room for argument. All the while, the villains were boasting over their victory and ordering their thugs around, totally oblivious to the plans being put in place, they had underestimated the Team, as always. " _In the corner of my mask, there's a distress beacon to Batman, when I collapsed earlier, I landed on it, basically we just have to avoid being captured until he gets here. However, I don't know how long he'll be so we should still rely on ourselves to get us out of this situation. Miss M, see if you can start to get the Kryptonite off of SB. When it's off you two are going to have to fight your way over to me so that I can help, it will take the three of us to escape. Minimum."_

After a couple of seconds of shocked silence, KF said, _"Dude, have you forgotten you're paralysed? Great strategy, and I love that Bats is coming to save us but right now you are as helpless as the rest of us."_ Gloominess filled the mind link until Robin shattered it with 2 words, the 2 words that made everything seem possible and finally connected the dots for his team. And they were, " _Utility belt_ ".

" _You have an antidote in there_?!" Wally mentally yelled in excitement, causing the rest of his team to groan and grab their heads simultaneously, except for Robin of course, " _Yes Kid Idiot! That's what he means! Now SHUT UP!"_ Artemis yelled back.

" _Guys? Not helping..._ "Robin mentally muttered, " _Anyway, any objections with the plan?"_ He paused to let the others respond, but no one was forth-coming, _"Asterous, Miss Martian: get rid of that Kryptonite."_


	6. Chapter 5

M'Gann slowly started to move the Kryptonite off of Superboy with her telekinesis, meanwhile Artemis and Robin were giving the others a mental crash- course on how to undo ropes. In less than 2 minutes, Megan had freed Superboy and everyone but Robin had subtly untied themselves. Megan sent out a psychic blast which knocked their guards off of their feet, and Conner caught them before they hit the ground, so as to avoid making noise to alert the villains, still holding Robin's cage and utility belt. The mini-team crept through the shadows, talking to Robin the whole way, to make sure he was still safe. Suddenly a note of urgency entered his tone as he said,

" _Guys, you need to hurry up, they know you're free and they are planning to leave-"_ Wally mentally whooped saying,

" _Awesome! Probably don't want to face daddy bats or the rest of the league, do_ _they? HaHA!"_ Robin responded with a scalding tone that seemed to mentally slap Wally in the face,

" _Have you forgotten that I am with them, immobilised, in an electrified cage, AS A TODLER?! I heard them talking, if you don't get to them before they leave... I am going too."_ Everyone could hear the note of desperation there, and it hardened their resolve. Aqua Lad spoke to the youngest in a soothing manner, trying to relay confidence and surety. " _Robin, we are not letting them take you, Miss Martian is in camouflage mode and is collecting your utility belt as we speak, which pocket is the antidote in?"_

There was a sudden, charged silence, until Robin spoke in a resigned tone, though the reason for that was unknown to the team until his final sentence, " _Looking down as though you were wearing it, it should be in the pocket 3 from the middle on the left side, that's where I keep various antidotes to things... The one you're looking for is called 'MR4' meaning 'Mobility Restorative 4'._ _There's a catch though..."_ Robin mentally sighed so they could hear it, " _The utility belt is keyed into my touch, the way I move, so Megan before you say anything, shifting into me won't help anything, the only way to override it is if I give someone the alternative access code..."_ he sighed again," _which just so happens to be my name."_


	7. Chapter 6

" _The utility belt is keyed into my touch, the way I move, so Megan before you say anything, shifting into me won't help anything, the only way to override it is if I give someone the alternative access code..._ " he sighed again," _which just so happens to be my name._ "

The team stopped what they were doing and stood in shocked silence for a moment, before sending a veritable storm of questions and queries down the mind link at Robin. Megan, halfway across the warehouse to Robin already, almost lost control of her camouflage, at the raw mental power of the single response from Robin,

" _SHUT UP!"_ Everyone immediately stopped panicking and payed attention to the 13/3 year old, depending on how you looked at it. Robin was just about to say something, presumably to finally reveal his secret identity to his team, but Wally interrupted,

" _Don't! You know Bats doesn't want you telling them! What if he pulls you off the team for disobeying a direct order? I know who you are, I can put in the code for you!_ " The sense of hurt echoing from the other 4 team members was palpable, didn't Robin trust them? Why did only Kid Flash know? Had all they had done as a team meant nothing?

Meanwhile Robin was fuming, how could Wally be that stupid? It was bad enough that he wasn't allowed to tell the team who he really was, but to have them singled out like that, like they were somehow unworthy of his trust, while Wally, blather-mouth Wally, was... he knew he would have to fix this and fast, before the team dynamic could be permanently destroyed but betrayal and self-doubt.

" _Thanks a lot Kid Mouth, that was really helpful."_ Robin sneered sarcastically, then turned his attention towards his other teammates. " _Look, KF has known me since he became Kid Flash at age 11 and a half, I was 10 at the time and had been Robin for a year already, I had already worked out his identity, so after a few months of earning my trust, I decided it was only fair that he learned mine. Batman found out and was less than impressed, thinking I had judged Wally too quickly, so naturally, when the team was formed 2 and a half years later, he forbade me from telling anyone who I really was until they had earned, not my trust, but **his**."_

Before the team could lapse into confused and shocked silence, something that had happened because of his actions, far too much for Robin's liking, he continued in a very serious voice,

" _The fact that Batman has not arrived yet to save the day means one of two things, number one, he has been killed in action and the League is now mourning his life, totally unaware that we are in danger, or number two, which given how he has been acting recently is far more likely, you have earned his trust and he knows I would guess that, allowing us to continue with the plan, defeat the villains and escape."_ Robin allows the team a count of 3 to digest that, and pretends he doesn't feel the glowing sense of pride and accomplishment emanating from his teammates, for impressing and having earned the trust of the notorious Batman. He mentally cleared his throat and Megan messaged that she had carefully gotten the utility belt and was back with the others, waiting on the code.

" _Without further ado, my name is Richard Grayson, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."_ Kaldur hurriedly typed in the name and following Robin- er _Richard'_ s earlier instructions, located the vial labelled 'MR4'. Megan and Superboy, being the only non-defenceless took the vial and crept over to Robin once more. By now Cobra's men had formed a ring around the 2 super villains, guns facing outward. They decided to take the direct approach and started attacking the thugs, M'Gann on the left, sending psychic blasts and Superboy on the right just ploughing his way through. Seeing they were outmatched, the 2 villains surrendered, and handed over the cage with the tiny Robin still inside. The rest of the team vaulted out of the shadows to their incapacitated teammate, and helped Megan administer the cure. Almost immediately Robin's tiny frame started shaking and through the mind link, they could feel Robin shielding them from feeling the experience.

When he was able to breathe easier and sit up, he finally said out loud, "Ouch. I hope I never need to use that on anyone, that hurt..." Only to immediately blush at how high and (in Megan's private opinion) adorable his voice was. Kaldur noticed the wary looks Robin was giving the team and said, "Let's head back, we'll have to get our mentors to work out a cure for this...predicament."

Robin let out his cackle, which did not sound as terrifying as normal, much to his mortification, but said, "No need, hand me the gun that turned us into kids, would you?" Artemis handed it to him, "Asterous! Just like I thought, they used dark matter and pure energy to get this to work, not to mention some of the most complex coding I have ever seen...that was not done by me," he said finishing in a smirk. Robin sun baked in the raised eyebrows of his team for a moment before turning to Wally and saying, "And oh science-genius-best-friend-of-mine, what do you need to destroy dark matter?" he asked archly, as if he already knew the answer and was just waiting on a response.

" _Matter_ ," Wally breathed in shock, turning to his best friend, who was nodding. Wally continued, "So we add matter, and you change the coding...And we're back to normal." He immediately ran and got a fallen ceiling beam, wincing at his normal speed the whole time, and returned to find Robin with his hologlove, writing seemingly meaningless lines of letters and numbers, with the team looking over his shoulder wearing masks of confusion. The tense silence was shattered by an excited,"DONE!" from Robin after only 5 minutes. Wally deftly handed over a piece of the wood, the 'matter' needed for this to work. After another pause, punctuated only by Robin occasionally tapping his foot as he worked the redesigned ray gun was ready.

"Who wants to go first?" Wally asked and immediately Robin said,

"Me."

"Why?" Everyone asked.

"Number one because I built the thing and if it malfunctions, which I'm almost certain won't happen, I don't want it to malfunction on any of you, the second reason is because even if it's only for a few fleeting seconds, I want to be the oldest on the team," he finished shyly.

After a little debate, the team agreed and Robin shot the ray at himself, immediately growing to his normal, 13 year old self with no complications, after enjoying the moment for a count of five he handed it to the others and soon everyone was back to normal.

"Let's go," Aqualad said, and the team called the police to pick up the tied up villains and boarded the bioship. A comfortable silence was ended by Wally saying,

"Hey guys, I wonder what Batman will think of us having been kids..."


End file.
